When Mura'ash saw this, he despatched a Marid, saying, "Go to this host and learn all that it
wanteth and return hither in haste." So the messenger rushed away to Barkan's camp, where the
Marids flocked to meet him and said to him, "Who art thou?" Replied he, "An envoy from King
Mura'ash;" whereupon they carried him in to Barkan, before whom he prostrated himself,
saying, "O my lord, my master hath sent me to thee, to learn tidings of thee." Quoth Barkan,
"Return to thy lord and say to him, 'This is thy cousin Barkan, who is come to salute thee.'"--
And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Six Hundred and Fifty-fifth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Marid-envoy of Mura'ash was
borne before Barkan and said to him, "O my lord, my master hath sent me to thee to learn tidings
of thee," Barkan replied, "Return to thy lord and say to him, 'This is thy cousin Barkan who is
come to salute thee!'" So the messenger went back and told Mura'ash, who said to Gharib, "Sit
thou on thy throne whilst I go and salute my cousin and return to thee." Then he mounted and
rode to the camp of his uncle's son. Now this was a trick[FN#36] of Barkan, to bring Mura'ash
out and seize upon him, and he said to his Marids, whom he had stationed about him, "When ye
see me embrace him,[FN#37] lay hold of him and pinion him." And they replied, "To hear is to
obey." So, when King Mura'ash came up and entered Barkan's pavilion, the owner rose to him
and threw his arms round his neck; whereat the Jann fell upon Mura'ash and pinioned him and
chained him. Mura'ash looked at Barkan and said, "What manner of thing is this?" Quoth
Barkan, "O dog of the Jann, wilt thou leave the faith of thy fathers and grandfathers and enter a
faith thou knowest not?" Rejoined Mura'ash, "O son of my uncle, indeed I have found the faith
of Abraham the Friend to be the True Faith and all other than it vain." Asked Barkan, "And who
told thee of this?"; and Mura'ash answered, "Gharib, King of Irak, whom I hold in the highest
honour." "By the right of the Fire and the Light and the Shade and the Heat," cried Barkan, "I
will assuredly slay both thee and him!" And he cast him into gaol. Now when Mura'ash's
henchman saw what had befallen his lord, he fled back to the city and told the King's legionaries
who cried out and mounted. Quoth Gharib, "What is the matter?" And they told him all that had
passed, whereupon he cried out to Sahim, "Saddle me one of the chargers that King Mura'ash